Visual Culture - Renaissance -
Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, & Patronage


Patronage: The de Medici Family

The De Medici family came from Origins which would let them dominate the culture and rule Florence for nearly 300 years. The power to rule Florence would be the trade, they depended highly of the trade which consisted of wool and banking. The families which could assist when trading in these circumstances would be highly thought of and have a significance importance when ruling the city.

This is how the Medici became an importance in the city, it was due involvement with the civic affairs. The De Medici family was a banking family so they had a great amount of power.
The power became more powerful in 1397 when the Medici bank opened in Florence, thanks to Giovanni di Bicci de Medici. This was the main source for finical situations. The Medici family power had opened a new source within the Civic government.
The bank has been successful and had expanded to England.
In the 15th century the Medici family were classed as the highest rank in Florentine government.

The De Medici's are known as the Patrons of Art due to their rise in Florentine politics. They became Patronage of artists, in which other artist wouldn't find work without them. The Medici family had backed many of the Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello (his most famous the bronze statue of David).

Florence was home to many Renaissance artist such as Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Leonardo Da Vinci : How his work has influenced the world.

Mona Lisa :

 

Leonardo da Vinci started to create this picture in 1503 and finished it in 1507. there are some speculations that this image of Mona Lisa wasn't actually finished. 

the Mona Lisa was a painting of a women called Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Gioconda.

 

The landscape in the back ground of the image offers a variety of colours and textures. The mountains provide a horizon which automatically directs the viewers eye toward the lady in the painting. Their is a faint line cross the top of Mona Lisa's head which indicates when looking closely that she is wearing a veil. Leonardo Da Vinci has control when it comes to painting this young lady, control over the hair, clothing and lack of jewellery. She would have been honoured when having her portrait painted.

 

Leonardo Da Vinci work has been an influence in many other artists work such as Marcel Duchamp(painter, sculpture, etc..), Marco Pece (Lego photographer), Fernando Botero (painter), Chris Naylor ( 3D grass engraver), Jim Hance (artist).

They have took their influences from the Mona Lisa and portrayed it as you  wouldn't expect to see it, they make something unique and interesting so that you will remember what has been done.

Marco Pece

 

Chris Naylor

 

Jim Hance

 

These influence that have been made by looking the image of the Mona Lisa or by taking her style and composition and recreating it using a specific person or character. They are all creative work which has been truly influenced by the work of another artist work. They have used the modern day life and activities to make a specific piece of work to fit in with the industries in today society.

 

 

Michelangelo : The meaning behind his work.

 

The Sistine Chapel ceiling

 

The Sistine chapel was single handily painted by Michelangelo after he was commissioned by the Pope Julius II in 1505. Michelangelo started to create this masterpiece which would be a great feature in the chapel for many years after. He started to create the painting called 'the Sistine chapel' in 1508 and finished it four years later in 1512 after being told that he could do what ever he would like to do on it.
The painting was approximately 520 square metres long and sits in across the barn built chapel next to the Vatican. This painting would allows Michelangelo name to go down in history.

The centre of the painting consists of nine different panel showing the different and unique scenes of the old testament's in the Bible. Three of the scenes are about creation, 3 are about Adam and Eve, and the other three are about the story of Noah.

Each of the panel has a specific name :

• The Drunkenness of Noah
• The Flood
• The Sacrifice
• The Fall
• The Creation Of Eve
• The Creation Of Adam
• God Separating Earth from Water
• The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Stars
• God Separating Light from Darkness

The First three panels

The Drunkenness of Adam : The old testament shows how Noah owned a Vineyard, and how he got drunk of his wine. His son Ham covered Noah's body as he lays there naked. This is when Hams brothers Japhet and Shem look away.

The Flood : It shows how flood would drawn the people as Noah and his family climbed aboard the ark.

The Sacrifice : Noah has built an alter inside of the ark for thanksgiving, which he offered up a sacrifice from God. They gave the offering to God and in return God blessed Noah and is family.

The Middle three panels

The Fall : This shows us where Eve had took the apple from the serpent in the garden Eden. Then Adam and Eve are forced to leave.

The Creation of Eve: Eve arises from the slumbering side of Adam.

The creation of Adam: Adam is about to come to alive, when God offers him Life in the Garden of Eden.

The Final three panels

God Separating Earth from Water: The powerful figure of God creates firmament.

The creation of the Sun, Moon and Stars: God shown in the act of creation, by outing the Sun and Moon into their position in the universe.

God Separating Light from Darkness: God moving the clouds of darkness and putting in the Light.

Visual Culture  - Renaissance in Europe
Bibliography

Books :

EMISION, P (2011) Leonardo Phiadon Press Inc, London
SPENCE, D, (2010) Michelangelo, Octopus Books, Inc.
AVERY, C (1987) Florentine Renaissance Sculpture. London John Murray
CAMPBELL, S,J (2012) A New History of Italian Renaissance Art. London, Thames & Hudson
COLE, B (1983) The Renaissance Artist at Work - from Pisano to Titian. London, John Murray
Websites:

http://www.damnfreshpics.com/2011/03/12-funny-mona-lisa-recreations.html
(1/12/13)

http://themedicifamily.com/ (11/12/13)

Visual Culture - 17th & 18th century

Look at the images that depict wealth, property and class for the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Thomas Gainsborough, Mr and Mrs Andrews: 1748-49

 



I have chosen this image by the artist Thomas Gainsborough, due to viewing the painting and it portraying the couples wealth, property and class.

 

When looking at this image I am automatically drawn to the scenery in the background, this is to due it being so large, which indicates to me that they are a wealthy couple. Looking more into the detail of the background their isn't any servants, although the landscape is kept so beautiful and well preserved. It shows me that although the servants do all the hard work, it is still Mr and Mrs Andrews land, so they are the most important people within the image, the servants are invisible.

The use of no servants allows the viewer to get a better understanding of who owns the land, so this doesn't get confusing.

Their is a strong oak tree in the image, which shows the Englishness, Stability and the Continuity.

Looking more into the young couple, you get a better understanding of their background, They have both from a wealthy family, which have joined together to become more successful and upper class.

Their clothes are well preserved and beautifully made. There isn't any dirt on them, which indicates they haven't done any work and that they are thought highly of.

They are portrayed in the image to be well brought up by the way they are sitting and standing. Mr Andrews, is overlooking everything and acts like he doesn't have a care in the world, and that he is truly happy with what he has in front of him; his wife, possessions, wealth, and mainly is land. Whereas Mrs Andrews, is at ease with everything, she seems to be shy and gentle and appreciates her husband a considerable amount. She wears the finest clothes and they are colourful, allowing me to feel that she loves life and respects what she has.

On Mrs Andrews lap, it isn't fully finished, symbolising that they are either going to include one of their children or another objects, showing their families wealth.

This portraits allows you to view the coming together of two young people in love, but the bigger picture that I see when looking at the image is not their love, but what they have together. They are well presented because they have the wealth, they have the property and they are highly thought of.

 

 

 Mademoiselle de Clermont as a Sultan. Jean-Marc Nattier 1733

 

I have chosen this image by Jean- Marc Nattier, of Mademoiselle de Clermont due to how it shows the elegant and power within the image.  

 

Jean Marc Nattier created this painting in 1733, of Mademoiselle de Clermont. Jean-Marc Nattier portrays the young women as an elegant, beautiful lady with a seductive side. She has beautiful well made clothes which assures you that she has a lot of money and power. By looking at her surroundings, it gives you the impression that she is wealthy. She is surrounded by servants holding many of Mademoiselle de Clermont's possessions, such as pearls, clothing and her rug. In 1733, the slave trade was very popular and owning many slaves shows that she is wealthy and has a fair amount of power. After looking closely at the image I noticed that all of the slaves in the image are looking at the young lady, to me this shows that she is well respected and has a vast amount of power.

 

Visual Culture - 17th and 18th Centuries:

Bibliography :

websites -

My daily art Displays
 http://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/mr-and-mrs-andrews-by-thomas-gainsborough/
(21/11/13)

Art Experts
http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/nattier.php
(24/11/13)

Visual Culture - 19th Century

The use of Photography to document war and conflict in the 19th Century.

Roger Fenton

How he came about Photography.

Roger Fenton became interested in Photography when in Paris practicing his painting and learning from other artist, such as his painting teacher called Paul Delaroche.
He has studied many jobs, for example he was a solicitor for many years, before changing his career to photography. His main love of painting was never disregarded throughout the years and he produce some paintings, which he named 'the letter to mama; what shall we write' and ' Hush lightly tread, still tranquillity she sleeps'.
He became interested in photography when practicing with the facilities of multiple printing offers by calotype.
The step forward came in 1847 when twelve interested photographers came together to form a group called 'Photographic club'. Then in 1851 the Great Exhibition was showed, which allowed an opportunity for photography to be noticed. Photography attracted  people from around the world to witness photographers work from Europe and United States. This was the first record of the major photography exhibition done.

Roger Fenton War Documentation - His Photography Van.

In 1855, Roger Fenton was commissioned to go to the Crimean War as a war photographer, to photograph all the situations that were there. He was commissioned by a print dealer, who used almost all of the 350 large format negative produced by Roger Fenton. He put the prints on show in London, but they weren't as successful as the dealer would like them to be. When Fenton went to the Crimean War, he took with him his assistant Marcus Sparling, two slaves and a large van which carried all of his process equipment which he used to create his work.

Roger had built in his Van from a converted horse drawn wine merchant van which he then made into a portable mobile darkroom where he would process his photographs.
In his van he would have many chests consisting of many unique equipment, these include chemicals, lenses, cameras, printing frames, gutta-percha baths and dishes, a few carpenters tools and plates which were put into glass cases for more security when traveling from area to area.
He would travel around the different places in the War and document all the horrific scenes which the newspapers would hide away from the public.
His works consist of images such as.....

 

The Tombs of the Generals on Cathcart's Hill; a man standing at the grave of Brigadier General Thomas Leigh Goldie, who was killed in action at the Battle of Inkerman.

 

 

The Mamelon & the Malakof from the front of the Mortal Batteries.

 

 

The old Genoese Castle at Balaklava, from above the castle pier

 

 

Captain Bernard, 5th Dragoon Guards, seated on a horse with 'V DG' on bags

 

 

Group of the 47th Regiment in Winter dress, ready for the trenches

 

 

Roger Fenton as a War Photographer

 

Roger Fenton recorded his War Photography in 1855 at the Crimean War, his work consists of posed portraits or immobile senses. He wouldn't focus his images on death as his worked was being watched by the authorities, this is so Roger Fenton doesn't show the public the truth that was going on in the trenches and the truth about the war. In his war documentation he based a lot of his work on the allied armies and how the lived in the campsites, but he mostly recorded landscapes, which lead to one of his most famous photographs called ' The Valley of the Shadow of Death'. This shows how the rough track which is covered in cannonballs and has no signs of  humans.

 

 

'The Valley of the Shadow of Death'.

 

Roger Fenton showed the world a new approach to War Photography, even thought many people didn't agree with his work.

Visual Culture - 19th Century Bibliography

Books :

HANNAVY, J (1975) Roger Fenton of Crimble Hall The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, London

BREWER, P, (2010) Shot of War Carlton Books Limited, London

Websites :

Roger Fenton - Iconic Photographer,
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/how-to/icons-of-photography/535868/roger-fenton-iconic-photographer,
(5/12/2013)

Visual Culture

Bibliography - Medieval World

Books -

Chinnery J (2008) Treasures of China, the glories of the kingdom of the dragon Duncan Baird, London

Honour H & Flemming J (2009) A world History of Art Laurence King




Websites -

http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/movtype.htm

Visual Culture - Medieval Period

China -

Calligraphy:

Calligraphy is a very important part in the Chinese history and their culture today. They have used calligraphy when creating the design on masterpieces, such as scrolls and the design on the pottery of the Yangshao culture. Venerable scrolls which are still around today are to be kept out of the light and only brought out on special occasions. This is so they do not get destroyed, and allows them to be preserved longer. There has always been a link between calligraphy and painting; they range from different sizes and it remains a major part when it comes to art in china.

There are four different parts to calligraphy, these are the bush, ink, paper and stone. these are know as 'the four treasures of the artist study'.....
The key when it comes to understanding and mastering calligraphy is how you use and control the brush. The brush was the main essential when doing calligraphy; this was made with bamboo and rabbit hair. This type of brush has been used since the Neolithic period, and the earliest surviving brush dated back too the Warring States Period.
The later bushes that were made for calligraphy were made using different animals hair, this made different thickness brushes which allowed you to use them for the strength, width and direction of the strokes when creating art; it allowed you to have the choice of using the tip of a brush or the full brush. The Chinese had a pattern where they would write in vertical columns. This was due to them writing on the strips of bamboo or wood. They didn't write vertical for everything, they would write horizontal when it comes to writing on the top of the door, it would also be written right to left.
It  has only been due to the western influences that they have started writing left to right. They started to write on silk instead of wood, but when it came to the invention of paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, they decided to take that idea up due to it giving of different textures.
The ink that they used was made of lampblack and a kind of glue, they would mix it into a paste and put into a mould to dry. They would them rub the dried in onto a stone and added water to it. They said that 'the stone which the ink was rubbed on is a work of art itself'.
When staring to develop the art of calligraphy, it allowed you to use many Chinese characters and forms. Many of the first calligraphy characteristics were pictogram's, this lead to later characters using two pictogram's together. The structure of Chinese characters are not as straight forward as you would think they are, they are a variety of shapes, this allows them to be an ideal subject for calligraphy art.

Movable Print:

Printing techniques were advanced further in the Ch'ing-li period (1041-1048), it was advanced through the invention of movable print. Although it was a great invention, it was time consuming and very costly. Each piece of movable type had a piece of Chinese character, which were carved on a tiny piece of amalgam of clay and glue. Each of the carved blocks were used as a specific page of a particular book. To create the piece of movable print, the part which created the character was thin, as thin as an edge of a coin. Once creating this, it is placed in fire which hardens it.

For each of the commonly used characters there was at least twenty plus types for them, allowing each Chinese character to have several pieces of type for them. China were very protective over there printing materials, so when not using the type they were covered in paper to protect them and then grouped together according to the rhymes and stored away in wooden frames, although there were plenty of Chinese characters they would come across certain characters which had not been made up in advance, so this was when the had to create them.
In 1313, a man called Weng Chen commission a craftman to carve 60,000 characters which were carved onto movable wooden blocks.
Centuries movable type and block printing existed side by side in China.

In the Xinjiang area, it wasn't certain when movable print and printing was introduced, but in the 13th century in Turfan there were printing materials found in several different languages.
Around the 13th century printing from China had reached the West due to people visiting and taking tings which inspire them to create. A man called Johannes Gutenberg, he was inspired by Chinese print which lead him to create it in the West. Gutenberg perfected all of his techniques and his sophisticated press designs typesetting methods, allowed a mass collection of books to become a reality and the technology spread throughout Europe.
By the 15th century, printing had become know in Holland, Germany and Prague; they were on the path to perfecting their printing techniques by using movable print.

The invention of Chinese movable print has helped the Chinese culture to progress, allowing them to develop their technology; also allowed them to advance their human civilization.

Visual Culture

Bibliography - Ancient Egypt , 'The Book of the Dead'

Books...

Egyptian Painting and the Ancient East: Robert Boulanger,
                                                                  Page - 154  (book of the dead)

Egypt: Vivian Davies and Renee Friedman
            Page - 179-183(The Dead)



Websites....

•       http://www.thenazareneway.com/index_egyptain_book_dead.htm

Visual Culture

Ancient Egypt - Book of The Dead

 

The 'book of the dead' contains spells, charms, passwords, numbers, magical formula's which are for...

• fetching the ferry boat in the sky
• for passing by the dangerous coils of Apep
• for being transformed into any shape that you might wish to take
• guidance through the proper responses in the hall of judgement

They would develop spell which would guide their love ones through the process to the afterlife.

It would be a long, challenging process with lots of tough obstacles and traps by the monsters and demons. The Egyptians called the spells which help through the process 'going forth by day' now know as 'the book of the dead'.

The description would be engraved onto papyrus or linen and then placed onto the body of the deceased, this will help them recognise the underworld and pass through unharmed.

 

The Egyptian believe that to obtain the bliss In heaven, the 'field of reeds', they had to pass the demons who guarded all of the gates. This made them become very dangerous and a challenging obstacle. The only way that you would be able to pass is if you stood before the demons and said ' I know you, I know your name'.

You had to correctly name all of the demons, there names were...

• The Barker
• The raging one with hippopotamus face
• He who devours filth from his hind parts
• The unapproachable
• The bloodsucker
• He who eyes spew fire

Religion in ancient Egypt ruled their everyday lives, they used as many as 2000 gods and goddesses which showed characteristics of a specific earthly force which was combined with heavenly power. The gods and goddesses were represented as part human part animal. The book of the dead would show their true beliefs.

 

There two main gods which they would worship were Aman-Ra and Osiris. Aman-Ra, the sun god, lord of the universe and Osiris, god of the underworld, peaceful afterlife.

To become one with the god Osiris, you would travel in the solar boat with the god Ra. This wouldn't be a simple trip, it was a trip with many obstacles and traps.

 

The Egyptian devoted a lot of time when it comes to preparing for the journey into the afterlife. The knowledge of the appropriate spells would be essential when achieving happiness after death. The spells and enchantments vary when it come to 'text of mummies' and 'sarcophagi', this depend on the class of the deceased.

 

The book of the dead illustrated the tests which the dead would be subjected too. The most important part of the tests would be the weighing of the heart. the heart would be weighed against a feather and if the heart weighed less than the feather it would be allowed to pass, this would be because it is not weighed down with sin. The book would demonstrate the Egyptian concept of the afterlife, and magic formulas which assure the decease happy existence.

The engravings would teach them how to greet the sun, how to worship Osiris,  how to kill crocodiles and serpents, and how to establish relationships with other souls.

Each book isn't the same, they all have their own character to the deceased.